Services hit at Rohtak PGIMS as nurses go on mass leave

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, August 2
The functioning of the Rohtak PGIMS was affected badly on Friday as the nurses went on a mass casual leave to press for the fulfilment of their long-standing demands.

Seek increase in nursing allowance
The main demands of the PGIMS nurses include increasing nursing allowance from ~1,200 to ~7,200 and changing the group classification of the nursing cadre from Group C to Group B on the pattern of AIIMS, New Delhi, and PGIMER, Chandigarh.

“The elective operation theatres remained inoperative due to the strike. No nursing staff was present in the emergency wing and the ICUs as well,” said a doctor.
As per the PGIMS staffers, the patients admitted at the indoor wards also had to face inconvenience due to the absence of nurses.
PGIMS Nurses Association president Vikash Phogat said their strike (mass casual leave) had succeeded and the agitation would continue until their demands were met.
Meanwhile, the PGIMS administration asserted that alternative arrangements had been made to ensure the provision of the requisite services at the institute in view of the situation today.
“Students of MSc (Nursing) were deployed on duty in place of nurses so that the patients do not suffer,” said PGIMS Medical Superintendent Dr Kundan Mittal.
Meanwhile, the Nurses Association has decided that that the entire nursing cadre of the Rohtak PGIMS will discharge their duties only in a single shift from 8 am to 3 pm for the next four days.
“Following this, the nursing cadre will be observing a strike on August 7. If our demands are still not met, we will be compelled to proceed on an indefinite strike from August 8,” said Phogat. She said if any untoward incident took place due to the strike, the Haryana Government and the PGIMS administration would be responsible for it.